Sri Lanka defeats the Bangladeshi side to preserve their World Cup campaign breathing

ICC Women's World Cup, Navi Mumbai

The Lankan team 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Nigar Sultana Joty 77 (98); Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

The Lankan cricket team claimed four wickets in the final over to achieve a nail-biting victory over Bangladesh and maintain their slim chances of making it for the tournament knockout stage ongoing.

Chasing a attainable target of 203 on a batting-friendly pitch in Navi Mumbai, the Bangladeshi team wanted nine more runs from the last six balls.

However, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three important dismissals in four bowls and Nilakshi de Silva ran out Nahida to bring about a exciting victory for the Lankan team.

The win – the Lankan team's first of the World Cup after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – elevates them equal on four tournament points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who meet each other on the coming Thursday.

The Bangladeshi team, on the other hand, endured a fifth successive setback since securing victory in their tournament opener against Pakistan and have been removed from contention.

While Bangladesh got off to the excellent commencement, with Marufa Akter taking a wicket with the initial ball of the game to send back Vishmi Gunaratne, they were appropriately penalized for a subpar fielding display.

They offered lifelines to Perera, who was missed multiple times, and Athapaththu.

Even though the Sri Lankan skipper could not capitalise, removed lbw for 46 just one delivery after being dropped by Rabeya Khan, Perera forced the opposition suffer.

She scored a debut international 50-run score, scoring 85 from 99 deliveries and contributing to an crucial 74-run stand fifth-wicket association with Nilakshi de Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's 3-27, dragged themselves back into the contest, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th bowling segment initiating a Sri Lanka collapse from 174 with four wickets down to 202 total.

In reply, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Prabodhani limited the opposition to 23 for one in a lacklustre opening overs and they were subsequently brought down to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin and Joty reconstructed their innings, contributing an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand before the batter withdrew due to injury for a stubborn 64 in the 36th bowling phase.

It was in favor of Bangladesh approaching the final two overs, with merely 12 more runs needed.

However, Sugandika Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu Moni and conceded merely three runs before the captain's chaos, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa all sent back as Sri Lanka seized the victory at the very end.

In the end, it was a contest of composure. The highly experienced Athapaththu, who ushered away a handful of fellow players as she set herself to bowl the last over, held her nerve. The opposition failed to.

There will be numerous questions about the team's batting performance. They possibly have been needing 270 or 280 with Sri Lanka looking comfortable on 159 with four wickets down in the 30th over, but rather the chase was considerably smaller.

However, the batting side lacked purpose from ball one, accumulating runs at below 2.5 scoring rate during the powerplay, experiencing a initial wicket loss, and finally making themselves excessive to achieve.

But no matter what problems there are with their batting approach, if they had seized their opportunities in the fielding department, that 203 total objective would have been substantially less.

It needed them three attempts to break the 72-run partnership second-wicket association, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana being unable to grab a difficult chance as wicketkeeper to send back Perera on her score of 23 before the captain got a reprieve from a return catch chance against Rabeya Khan.

Perera was dropped further on 55 and her score of 63, the last attempt traveling directly to Jhilik at cover, before finally being given out lbw by Shorna as she sought to accelerate the scoring with teammates getting out near her.

Later in the game, there was additionally a missed stumping and a failed run-out, although the second one was a somewhat unlucky, with Jhilik substituting with the gloves following an injury to Joty.

Unfortunately for the team, such fielding woes are far from a single occurrence. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a available 27 chances at this competition and have the lowest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the eight teams.

They are a team who are generally progressing in the proper way – they are participating in merely their second 50-over World Cup ultimately – but substandard fielding performance is a glaring problem which requires focus.